Ozarks Voices: Arthur Mallory, August 29, 2024
Interview with Arthur Mallory by Tom Peters, Dean of Library Services at Missouri State University. Dr. Arthur L. Mallory assumed the responsibility of president of Southwest Missouri State College (now Missouri State University) on November 7, 1964. He was the fifth and, at 31, the youngest president to serve the institution. Like two of his predecessors, Presidents Clyde Hill and Roy Ellis, Arthur Mallory was both a native of the Ozarks and a graduate of the institution he was chosen to lead.
Topics discussed during the interview include: early life and education; parents' teaching positions; mid-20th-century education developments in Missouri; military service, marriage, and higher education; establishment of a normal school at Springfield, Missouri; early educational career; accepting the presidency at Southwest Missouri State College; responsibilities as college president; conflicts and controversies during his presidency; threats to his life; accomplishments as the Missouri State Commissioner of Education; early childhood education initiatives.